Arthur vs Mr Sandman
by Epic Jay
Summary: WARNING: M M WARNING: Really big bugs WARNING: I actually haven't seen the show in a really long time WARNING: Really bad figurative language WARNING: This is really just not very good. You should seriously find something else to read. ALTERNATE UNIVERSE where Merlin and Arthur fall in love Awww. Dragoon and The Shadow become Camelot's best heros. And biggest ship.


Uther is dead. Arthur has become king. Morgana is still tormenting Camelot. Place in the cannon timeline: lol, this is a fic and Merlin and Arthur are getting together. What were you expecting?

Other things to note: you should know who Dragoon is. When Uther died, Arthur (finally) realizes that sometimes if you want something done (in this case collecting information about the kingdom) right, you have to do it yourself. Arthur occasionally dresses with a black tunic and pants with a cloth wrapped around his head leaving the only telling attribute that it is indeed Arthur being his arrogant eyes. Arthur in this form is referred to the people as "The Shadow" as he always appears and disappears without a trace.

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Part I: The Old Man is Useful

King Arthur sat with his counsel. They were disturbed with villagers disappearing to the West. The people of Camelot had no clues as to where they went. They just disappeared. Arthur was frustrated that the counsel knew nothing as to the cause of the disappearances and desired for the meeting to adjourn so he could get to the source himself. And when the meeting finally was dismissed, he went to his room, stationed a guard to let no one disturb him, and began stripping down.

"Arthur!"

King Arthur jumped around to see Merlin standing by his bed with a plate for supper. Arthur blushed. Not because a servant saw him in the nude, because plenty, including Merlin, have seen such beauty. It was instead because Arthur felt threatened that his alter ego, The Shadow, was almost compromised. Arthur made a mental note that he had gotten far to comfortable changing into The Shadow and gotten far to careless at making sure the identity remained secret.

"Merlin, you startled me. How long have you been here?"

"About ten minutes. I was told you were in a meeting."

Useless use of time, Arthur thought. Merlin always seemed like a daft prick to him. But he had to admit there was something adorable about the way he waited on Arthur. He always remembered that time Merlin had saved him that long time ago. And even though he thought Merlin was clumsy and often useless, Arthur has to admit that Merlin was also selfless and one of the best people he could keep around.

"Yes. Well the meeting is over now. You could have polished my boots if you needed something to do."

Merlin muttered, "Or you could go around barefoot more," which of course Arthur did not hear as Merlin envisioned Arthur traipsing through the stables barefoot and he smiled at himself.

"Now get out, Merlin. I wish to be left in peace."

"Of course, your majesty," and Merlin left the king to himself.

Now, Arthur listened as Merlin's footsteps died down and quickly went to the secret compartment where he hid the black clothing. He shrouded himself in the black clothing and went to his hearth, jiggled the poker, and entered the secret passage built for the escape of the royal people. He exited out there back beyond the wall where the duct let out and he began his journey towards the West to investigate the disappearances of the people he was responsible of.

I now take you to Merlin as Arthur begins his journey west. After all, he won't make the journey in a blink of an eye. Now, Merlin was with Gaius discussing the meeting that Gaius had just been a part of, "Disappearances are serious. We don't know if they're alive or dead. If they're alive, we should rescue them. If their dead, well, we only have to prevent other deaths."

"I'm not worried. The Shadow will make everything alright."

Gaius frowned, "I don't trust vagabonds, Merlin. And neither should you. They always have an alternative motive."

"This is The Shadow we're talking about. Clad in black, good with a sword, piercing eyes that bare into enemy souls. He's different."

"If I didn't know any better, the way you talk about him would make me think you were in love with the fellow."

The thing is, is that Merlin did have a crush on The Shadow. He loved how mysterious he was. He loved how he was always there when Camelot was in danger. And of course he loved the way the man under the black filled his tunic.

Merlin was aware of his over enthusiastic feelings and the dream-like nature he experienced when The Shadow came up and he had prepared himself for such a statement to hopefully throw Gaius off from the truth, "Nonsense, Gaius. I could never love anyone as much as I love you." Merlin batted his eyes for good measure. Nothing flustered and confused a man like flattery.

"If that was even slightly true you would do the dishes every once in a while like I ask you to. Now, shouldn't you be bothering Arthur? Doesn't he have stables to muck or boots that need polishing?"

"Never give him those ideas. Here I was thinking you actually liked me. No, after I gave him his supper he wanted to be left alone and the guard won't let me anywhere near the door right now."

"Again?"

"Again."

Gaius sighed, "Everytime a problem arises in Camelot he locks himself in. I wonder if he is really that stressed to seclude himself as such. I should probably work on something to help relax him. Would you be a dear and try to reach him and ask if I could?"

Merlin sighed, "I supposed." And he headed for Arthur's room again.

Of course Merlin was denied entry to the room. The guard stated, "No one goes in. Arthur made it clear."

"Gaius wants to know if there's anything he can do to help Arthur."

The guard hesitated, "I suppose if Gaius is concerned it may possibly perhaps with exception be permitted. . . Fine. You may attempt to speak to him through the door."

Merlin knocked on the door and called out, "King Arthur? Are you okay? Gaius is concerned."

There was, of course, no answer. For Arthur was heading west, if you had forgotten.

Merlin knocked again, "Arthur?"

Silence was his only answer.

Now, this disturbed Merlin because it was still the middle of the day and Arthur was not yet to the old age where naps were the succulent release from exhaustion that torments the weaker of constitution. No, Arthur would not be sleeping of his own volition. Something had to be wrong.

He verbalized this to the guard, "Something has to be wrong."

"Naw, I'm sure he's just sleeping."

This guard was specifically picked by Arthur as he was clueless to the sense of danger and daft at picking up social cues. Merlin was not getting into the room with this guard guarding the door.

I now take you back to Arthur, as a reasonable amount of words have been written so that the illusion of the passage of time may be secured. Arthur traipsed through the woods towards where the sightings have been until he reached a village. When he entered everyone stopped and stared and began to mutter things such as, "Look, it's The Shadow," "He's going to fix things," and "Do you think I could get a drop of sweat from him? Or a toenail?"

Arthur went up to the seemingly most competent man there was and inquired, "I hear there has been trouble. What ails this people?"

The man began sweating nervously and said, "We don't know. People wander into the woods just over there and they don't come back. Those brave enough to venture in a little and manage to come back only report that there are a lot of large holes. Did you come to save us?"

"I've come to see what I can do. I'm going into the woods." Everyone gasped at the bravery of The Shadow. Of course, you reading this may perhaps disagree and argue that it may have been a gasp of shock at his stupidity, but I assure you that each and every body there inhaled in unison to signal their admiration for the man that stood before them. Even if this is an extremely stupid thing to do.

Arthur ventured into the woods alone and frowned at the first hole he came to. The man said that the holes were large, but he had not expected a hole in the ground big enough that a very fat horse would be able to get in with ease. Whoever made this must have had help. And Arthur decided he would need it too.

We now jump into the future where Arthur has already returned from his journey and become once again King Arthur in contrast to The Shadow. He called a meeting to inform his colleagues that he was informed of information concerning the disappearances to the west. "The only other clue we have to go on is that in the location the disappearances occur, there are incredibly large holes in the ground."

One man spoke up, "If i might ask, how large?"

Arthur stroked an imaginary beard as he imagined the people in front of him inside the hole for comparison, "Large enough that almost all of you might jump in together and not brush shoulders."

This began to disturb them. That was a big hole. Which left the question: what left the hole? Gaius, the trusted old man with the most miscellaneous knowledge which is why he is even invited to these meetings spoke up, "This sounds to be the work of something other than man. Man would have no reason to have such a large hole."

The others agreed. No one could think of a reason anyone would want a hole that large.

Gaius continued, "I also suspect that they are not just holes. I suspect they might be tunnels."

Another old man named Phil exclaimed, "Goodness, tunnels? What do you think would dig tunnels?"

Gaius continued some more, "A great many things dig tunnels, Phil: worms, snakes, badgers, insects, crabs."

"But a little worm couldn't dig a hole that big."

"No. Not a little one."

The other people in the room finally grasped what Gaius was getting at. A _big_ worm.

"Well," Arthur began, "Let's go kill a worm."

People began to leave when Gaius held up a hand, "I've never heard of a giant worm."

Everyone blinked in confusion.

Gaius explained, "I've never heard of a giant worm. I have, however, heard of the giant Man-Eating-Beetle and the giant Man-Eating-Spider."

Arthur corrected himself, "Then let's go kill the beetle or spider. Who's coming?"

Gaius once again interrupted, "Insects have an incredible sense of feeling. They would easily identify a hoard of people coming. I would send one or two people only." This confused the people a little, but Gaius knew more than he was telling them. He would tell Merlin the other knowledge later.

"Fine," Arthur began, now irritated at how long this meeting had gone on, "I'll go and I'll take Merlin. It should be simple enough."

This pleased Gaius and he quickly went to find Merlin.

Gaius found Merlin at their place washing the dishes. "Merlin, I have something very, very important for you to do." Gaius then pulled out an aging potion.

Merlin groaned, but secretly was excited. When Merlin went out as Dragoon, Merlin had a chance at working with The Shadow. "What am I doing this time?"

Gaius pulled out a book and gave it to Merlin, "Page 394."

Merlin opened the book to the page Gaius suggested and frowned, for it was the page of the Man-Eating-Beetle. "Gaius, the book says the beetle is seven feet tall. What do you want me to do?"

"If you had kept reading, you would find that the beetle has an incredibly strong exoskeleton. No mere sword will penetrate the shell the beetle has. The beetle's greatest weakness is magic, Merlin. Arthur will take you there, and you, as Dragoon, will have to take care of the beetle. Make sure Arthur doesn't get too close to it."

Merlin groaned again, "Can't I go a month without having to worry about Arthur?"

Gaius quirked a smile, "I bet The Shadow will be there."

Merlin glared at Gaius, unsure as to if he was aware of the crush or not. He grabbed the potion and hid it in his sack, "I still don't know how I'm supposed to beat a seven foot bug."

"Bugs are usually incredibly susceptible to fire. I hear footsteps."

Just then Arthur walked in, "Merlin we're going to go and slay a beast and save the people of Camelot. Come on, now."

Merlin picked up his bag and followed Arthur out the castle walls.

Bringing Merlin on these expeditions was always a blessing and a curse. Arthur loved Merlin's company and Merlin would certainly give his life to save Arthur's; Merlin has already done so many times in the past. But Arthur always worried about Merlin. You see (and if you don't I'll tell you), Arthur has developed a love for Merlin. These feelings have gone unrecognized for several reasons: The love he would express towards Merlin is unconventional as this is a great deal different than a mother would love a child or a friend would love a friend (though the latter is incredibly similar) and the two are both male with no chance of reproducing. Additionally his experiences of love have been greatly confusing to him as the primary love he has experienced is the love of his people; this is new to him. And Arthur tends to be blatently oblivious. So now you know (while he does not yet understand) a few of the thoughts going through Arthur's head and a few of the feelings he is experiencing in his heart while they travel west towards the beetle.

When Arthur and Merlin arrived at the holes, Merlin stared down into the abyss and frowned, "We're not going in there, right?"

"Well, you don't have to." Arthur tied a sturdy rope to a tree and began his descent into the tunnel.

Merlin followed shortly after.

The tunnels were large and they seemed to have many divisions. They followed this tunnel only a short way before they came to an intersection. "Which way do we go?" Merlin asked.

"We want to find the lair of the beast. We follow the grain. Everything should point towards the center." And so they began their journey again.

It was not long before they got to a large cavern. There were tunnels going out in all directions and there seemed to be an additional room. Arthur and Merlin suspected the beetle to be in there. "I gotta wiz."

Arthur blinked at Merlin, "Blast it, Merlin. Fine. Go down one of the tunnels and take care of business. I'll take care of the beetle."

Merlin bolted down one of the tunnels and when the torch Arthur held was barely lighting the tunnel he was in, he pulled out his aging potion and drank it.

Dragoon ran in past Arthur towards the lair of the Man-Eating-Beetle. Arthur stopped him, "Wait! That's where the Man-Eating-Beetle is!" Arthur got a better look at him,"Wait, I know you! You're the crazy man with magic!"

"Yes. I am Dragoon."

Arthur squinted, "You look familiar to someone I know." That someone is of course Merlin, but I've said it once and I'm saying it again: Arthur can be oblivious.

"And you look like an arse. Now if you don't mind, I have a Beetle to take care of. Now, you wait here, look pretty, and take all the credit like you do best." Dragoon ran for the cave again but when he entered it he was met with the unexpected; the Man-Eating-Beetle was not there. Dragoon walked out of the cave on edge as he waited for the beetle to come out of thin air. Arthur looked Dragoon over quizzically as Dragoon glanced nervously down each tunnel, "What, you didn't kill the beetle already? I would have expected something better from The Great Dragoon, wielder of magic."

"Hush."

"Don't you dare hush me."

"The beetle wasn't in there."

Arthur went silent and nervously looked down tunnels as well.

They heard a rumble come from one of the tunnels and they prepared themselves to fight the beast. The Man-Eating-Beetle emerged from the tunnel and when it saw the two humans he let out an earth-shaking cry of delight. He charged for Arthur first and as he did Dragoon's eyes glowed gold and the beetle erupted into flames.

The momentum kept the flaming beetle on its course towards Arthur who dodged out of the way leaving the beetle to ram into the wall.

With the beetle now taken care of, Dragoon ducked into one of the tunnels to change back into Merlin. Once he did he made his way back to the center to Arthur. He gasped at the flaming beetle, "Wow, you killed it."

"Actually some mad man did. What took you so long? That was a long piss."

"I got lost."

I now use my powers as narrator to take you to a mansion hidden to the south near the Forest of Balor. Here there resides a man named Yobnaf who has been following the adventures of Merlin and Arthur since the day Merlin set foot in Camelot. He was watching the two now in his crystal sphere. Yobnaf watched as the two headed for Camelot. He muttered something under his breath which shall remain secret. Then he headed off towards Camelot himself.

PART II: The Sandman

It was dark when Yobnaf snuck in. It was easy for someone with his abilities to do so. He started in Arthur's room where he left a piece of paper on Arthur's desk. He then snuck into Merlin's room and even though Merlin was already asleep, Yobnaf put a sleeping potion on him. He then threw Merlin over his shoulder and headed north towards a great river.

Arthur woke up. He put on clothes and started wondering where Merlin was with his breakfast. That is when he spied the paper on his desk. He frowned, as he did not recognize it. He got up and looked at it. It read:

K. Arthur,

I regret to inform you that your servant, Merlin, has been enchanted. If you wish to see him again, I've left him with a kind widow in a cottage directly east of here. Her name is Gretta. If you wish to see your Merlin again, come and come alone.

~The Dreamer

Naturally Arthur's reaction was to immediately and irrationally start for the east.

He reached the cottage and was greeted by an elderly woman who let him in and showed him Merlin, "He was just here when I woke up. All I have is this letter which says he can only be awaken by a kiss of love."

Arthur frowned. I remind you of his misconceptions of love, "Merlin's the kind of guy only a mother could…" He trailed off, but he was going to say 'love.' He cut off because they were awfully close to Ealdor, where Merlin's mother resided. He quickly got up and ran out the door and headed for Ealdor.

Gretta, who is actually Yobnaf in disguise, became frustrated as his plan was being foiled. But he would not give up. Even if Arthur won this time, he would not give up. His plan would succeed, even if he had to use force.

Arthur returned with Hunith shortly where she gave Merlin a kiss on the forehead and he immediately woke up. Gretta wished all three a good day as they left her place.

Part III: The Shadow is Cast

While Arthur had been rescuing Merlin and neglecting his duties as King, the people grew frustrated. For more people were disappearing, and this time in the north. When King Arthur heard of this, he locked himself in his room and changed into The Shadow and headed for the place. He didn't need information but he wanted to get to the north and kill the other Man-Eating-Beetle as fast as he could without worrying about Merlin taking a wiz or the people being worried about his safety. This was a ridiculous plan, but Arthur did it anyway.

As The Shadow headed north Gaius took Merlin aside and gave him yet another aging potion. Merlin frowned, "What is it for this time?"

"More disappearances and I don't think there's time for Arthur to wait in his room this time. You need to take care of this on your own. I'll take care of things here."

Merlin glared at Gaius, "Don't you dare tell anyone I'm at the tavern."

Gaius only shrugged.

Now we have The Shadow and Merlin heading for the north. We should be excited for Merlin. He gets an encounter with his crush. He gets to admire how well the tunic fits. But of course we should not forget the beast that awaits them hoping that they'll be a tasty treat. Hoping that the two will wander into its lair.

The Shadow got there first. He was confused, though. Instead of tunnels, he found that the forests were covered in a complex web system. He followed in towards the center of the spiral until he found a cave that looked like it had eaten a spider and vomited out a disgusting amount of spider webs over the forest in an attempt to decorate the trees for a holiday not recognized by Camelot (*cough* Old Hallow's Eve).

The shadow entered and was immediately attacked from above by a massive spider that quickly wrapped him in more webs and hung him up on a wall of more webs to eat later.

Luckily Merlin was on his way and before he entered the cave, he drank the potion to become Dragoon. Best that if anyone happened around, they would see Dragoon wielding magic and not Merlin. Dragoon did not enter the cave, though. He was more clever than that. He grabbed some of the webbing that was sprawled from the cave and gave it a couple of tugs. The spider rushed out of the cave thinking something had gotten stuck in the webs and Dragoon lit the Man-Eating spider on fire like he did to the Man-Eating-Beetle.

Dragoon then spent the next bit trying to get the web off of his hand which just left a large mess of webbing all over him anyways. And as he was about to leave he heard muffled grunting and he went towards the cave to investigate. Dragoon gasped as he saw The Shadow trapped like a fly in a spider's web. He quickly went over and began tearing at the webbing that held The Shadow in place. And as he did so, some of the webbing got caught on the head wraps and tore them away from Arthur's face.

Dragoon stopped for a moment and stared in shock. That shock quickly turned to anger, "You?! The Shadow is you?" Merlin was having a hard time processing this. "I _liked_ The Shadow and you had to ruin everything by being him, huh."

The amazing, hott, shadow was the arrogant prick Arthur. He hadn't even gotten to the _even if I could crush on the guy Arthur was, he's a King and there's no way we could be together_ as Arthur interrupted his thoughts, "Are you going to finish saving me?"

Dragoon pursed his lips before saying, "No." He then twirled around and walked away as Arthur finished wriggling to free himself.

Dragoon exited the cave and changed into Merlin. But Arthur didn't struggle as much as Dragoon had hoped. Arthur exited the cave just to see as Dragoon reversed age into Merlin. "Merlin?"

Wide-eyed Merlin spun around, "Arthur, what are you doing here?" Merlin was playing dumb. He was trying to pretend that Dragoon had gone already and Merlin had just got here since he did not know that Arthur had seen the change.

"Merlin, I saw. You're Dragoon?"

"And you're still an arse." Merlin started heading away.

"Where are you going?"

"Home."

"Camelot is that way," Arthur pointed south. Merlin had been heading west.

"I know. I'm going to Ealdor. Screw destiny. You can take care of yourself, I'm sure." Merlin continued on his way.

Of course, all of this was seen by Yobnaf.

Part IV: The Sandman Strikes Yet Again

I take you back to Yobnaf who has taken Arthur and Merlin's absence as an opportunity. For when they wander home, they shall find that while they were gone, he had taken the opportunity to make everyone else fall into a deep sleep. He would succeed this time. Or else everyone would remain asleep. Yobnaf waited for Merlin and Arthur to come to him.

Arthur returned to Camelot alone. When he entered through the gates, he knew something was wrong. The guards were asleep. The villagers were asleep. Arthur ran around, frantic, as a herd of children run away from the person that is 'it' in tag. He looked everywhere and found that no one was awake. And then he found the note.

K. Arthur,

You may have foiled my plan last time, but this time you will comply fully or they shall remain asleep indefinitely. You and Merlin shall visit my mansion near the forest of Balor. Both of you must be here.

~The Dreamer

Arthur headed for Ealdor.

When he arrived he noticed that Ealdor was under the same curse. Everyone was asleep and this worried him. What about Merlin? Was Merlin alright? Merlin wasn't alright. Arthur heard sobbing and knew it had to be Merlin.

Arthur followed the sound and found Merlin crying in his mother's house.

Merlin glanced up, "What do you want."

"Are you okay?" Arthur had forgotten about The Dreamer (or Yobnaf, if you haven't figured that out). He sat down beside Merlin.

"No. No, I'm not okay. I find out that The Shadow is you," his voice was bitter and it made Arthur feel sad. Not because Merlin was displeased with him, but because Merlin was hurting, "And now everyone is under some kind of spell."

Things started to click for Arthur. Merlin is Dragoon. Dragoon has magic. Merlin has magic. "Wait, Merlin, don't you have magic?"

Merlin sniffed, "Yeah, but I can't stop something like this."

This is when Arthur remembered the paper he had found. He handed it to Merlin.

Merlin looked it over then stood up, "Then let's go to the forest of Balor."

It did not take long for them to get to the forest of Balor (it's just a ways south-west of Ealdor) and it did not take long for them to find the mansion. They walked up to the door and when Arthur knocked, the door swung open. The two entered and found Yobnaf waiting for them in a cozy chair.

"It is about time."

"What do you want," Arthur demanded.

"Not a whole lot. Would you like some tea first? It's mint." He began pouring into two cups before they could even answer. He handed one to Arthur but Merlin refused his. "I only want one thing. You two to kiss and make up."

Merlin and Arthur looked at each other in confusion.

"Your bind to destiny isn't over yet, Merlin. Now, the two of you need to kiss and make up. Then everyone will wake up. That's it."

"What is this? Some kind of game to you?" Arthur was getting angry.

"Of course not. I just specialize in sleeping spells. Completely harmless, right, Merlin? You seem to be doing fine after the one I put on you. I was trying to get you two to solidify your bond there, but you," he pointed to Arthur, "had to go and get his mother. Well, not this time. It's just us three and I'm not kissing anyone and I have nothing to make up."

Merlin and Arthur just stared at Yobnaf.

"What are you two waiting for? All you have to do is a little lip-to-lip contact and you can go on your merry way."

Arthur looked at Merlin (almost with hope) and Merlin glared at Arthur with his still red eyes. "For Camelot?" Arthur said.

Merlin sighed, "For Camelot."

Their mouths mashed together like two fish engaged in mouth-to-mouth combat.

When they pulled away from each other, Yobnaf was gone. And so was his mansion. Merlin and Arthur were just sitting in the middle of the forest.

Merlin quickly got up and started for Camelot. Arthur grabbed his arm, "Wait. No one's going to know about this, right?"

"Of course not. I'm just as ashamed as you are."

"So, this might be our only chance to talk about it?"

Merlin turned around and Arthur let go of his arm, "What are you talking about?"

"I-I think I might have actually enjoyed that, Merlin."

Merlin's eyes went owl-like in surprise.

"What did you think of it? Honest."

Merlin pondered for a little bit. Even though he was bitter about his crush turning out to be the King of Camelot, he had to admit the thought that he had actually kissed his crush, even in King form, was elating. "It doesn't matter, now does it? No one is going to find out."

"Merlin, I want to know."

Merlin sighed, "I've had a crush on The Shadow since that day I ran into him as Dragoon. There was always that sliver of hope that the guy was some Joe Shmoe that could get with me. We would be happy living in a little cottage together. But it turned out to be you. And it doesn't matter how I feel about you, Arthur. You're the King. I'm a peasant boy. I'll-I'll have to find someone else to live in that cottage with."

"But how did you feel about it?"

"I liked it! Okay?" Merlin wrenched his arm from Arthur and started back for Camelot.

"Merlin, why can't we talk about this?"

"There's nothing to talk about. You're the king. You need a queen. You need an heir. I can't help with either of those."

"I don't care, Merlin. I want you. Only if you want me too, but I would do anything to be with you. You've saved me so many times. You've always been here for me. I want to be around for you. I would do anything for you." You see, Arthur has finally begin to realize his feelings for Merlin.

Merlin glanced back,"Anything?"

"Anything."

"Stop making me muck out the stables."

"Is that it?"

Merlin frowned, "No. You need to sort it out with your people. I would never have a secret relationship. You still have a kingdom to rule, Arthur. Don't forget that."

This made poor Arthur think, a dangerous thing for him to do. But right then Arthur decided someday he would figure out how to be with Merlin.

Epilogue: The Old Man by the Lake

Merlin sat beside the lake in a form we would think as Dragoon. Years have passed leaving Merlin alone in a cottage by the lake. He looked over the lake remembering what it was like before Arthur has died. Merlin had secretly hoped that once Morgana and her dragon were taken care of, Arthur would uphold his talk of taking care of things with the kingdom so the two could be together. Arthur has meant to. Arthur has discussed with his knights the subject and no one objected to Merlin being at Arthur's side. The only question left was the heir. Arthur had been working on that. He had decided to that the knights would be in charge of deciding the next king when he was gone. No one expected it to be so soon.

Merlin stared at the lake wondering what could have been. What they could have done.

It felt empty beside him. It felt lonely. But he almost never regretted the past. He valued the time he had spent with Arthur. Even the kiss they were forced to have. The one regret; his only regret, was that they never kissed again. Their only kiss wasn't of their idea. And Merlin had still been bitter at Arthur when they kissed. He wished that they had had at least one more. One to really remember.

~Happy Birthday, Aurora ~


End file.
